“What can go wrong at a school dance?” I thought this to myself as my mother drove me to my school’s middle school dance. My mind slowly started to wander and I started
to overthink everything and what could go wrong with the girl of my dreams, Lisa.

My name was Jack Smith and I was a young boy living a normal life until middle school. Middle school was the start of my love for romance and attempts of finding someone
right for me. I lived in a town called Hallsburg, chances are you have never heard of it. It is a rural town in the middle of nowhere. Its filled with people who love country music and Donald
Trump. We had one school that everyone attends of all ages. I lived in a small house with my mom, dad, and brothers. Our house was 3 bedrooms and 1 family room in the middle of all the bedrooms. My
family were my friends; I was a quiet boy with hardly any friends. Regardless, let’s begin on my journey of rejection.

It all started at the beginning of a normal school year at the beautiful school of King K12 School. I had attended this school since 4thgrade but my life would never be the same when I walked into my 1stperiod math class. My school, had treated me well up until then, the beautiful nature-filled campus and the diverse population and
fun atmosphere, until that day it was great.When I walked into my 1stperiod class on that day, it was the first time I ever laid eyes on the one and only, Lisa. Lisa was what I would describe as
perfect, long brown hair with beautiful brown eyes. I was a shy and introverted boy. My classmates didn’t know me well and I usually kept to myself, I didn’t have many friends. However, Lisa made
me change myself to be good enough for her, I wanted her more than anything.

Throughout the school year, I had done many different things to win over Lisa.We
talked occasionally but I knew I had to be better.On one school day, my friend Bobby gave me some cologne to put
on andshow off to Lisa. On the bus ride to school, he handed me the bottle of cologne and told me only to put a
tiny amount on. My stupidself dumpedthe entire bottle on myself. Throughout the day, people walked by me grabbing their nose with faces of horror and my teacher even called me out for it. Lisa was not impressed at
all, it was a setback for me and my plan to date Lisa.

A few months later, Valentine’s Day came around and I knew it was the perfect time to make a move. I decided to write a very romantic poem and asked Lisa’s friends
for help to write the perfect poem. My school had a rose delivery service and I used this and sent Lisa the rose with the poem on it. My signature line of the poem was “You’re so hot I need aloe”.
Later on, this line of the poem was something that defined me, my new nickname became aloe boy. Lisa did not respond well to this poem. It was yet another setback in my path to Lisa but I continued
on my journey.

Now let’s take you to my first middle school dance, it was one of the worst nights of my life, I expected it to be the best night of my life. It all began as I
exited the car, my stomach growling in nervousness and my hormones rushing. “Have fun sweetie!”my mother
enthusiastically told me.

Oh, this was going to be good. The building was bumping with music and kids everywhere were screaming. I got very nervous, so I started stress eating. As I crammed my
face with pizza and cookies, I saw Lisa dancing with some of her friends, and quickly regained my confidence. I took out my handkerchief and quietly dabbed the pizza sauce off my nose, people often
made fun of me because of the size of my nose.I went over to my friends and asked them for advice. They told me
it would beromantic to request a slow song.I knew exactly what song I wanted to play. I turned around to walk to the DJ, and I heard my friends laughing."I bet it`s because they know I’m totally going on a datetonight,"I figured. So I kept walking over to the DJ, and the room seemed to get a lot darker and smaller. It was probably because of
howboth nervous and excited I was, but I knew what I had to do. So when I got tothe DJ after what seemed likeforever, I
requested the best song I could think of, one that I loved and I thought Lisa would too. I hung around in the corner for a second to wait for the song to come on.I got last in my own imagination, thinking about how if I failed at this, I could still come home to my sweet chemistry books. Then
all of the sudden, I heard my song, Wanted by Hunter Hayes come on. I knew this was the moment I had been waiting for, this was my chance. So I mustered up everything I had, and walked over to
Lisa. She looked at me weird, remembering the aloe disaster. But I still asked her if she would dance with me. She stood still for a minute, frozen in horror. Then she ran into the bathroom crying.
Stupid me thought they were tears of joy, but as it turns out she was crying out of embarrassment that a guy so low would ever ask her out. She stayed in the bathroom crying for the rest of the
dance, with the school deputy trying to console her after her traumatic moment. Nothing could help, though. What was done was done, what has been seen couldn’t be unseen. So, she eventually left
the dance early, leaving behind a trail of tears.It was truly horrific. But, me being me, I wasn`t done that was
just the beginning.

However, I did decide to leave a couple years in between my next attempt at a romantic conquest. So, I waited three years, patiently looking at the girls from
corners. But in ninth grade, I found my next victim. Her name was Patty, and I liked her even more than I did Lisa. In my eyes, she was the hottest thing ever, and she was in my Spanish
class. She had long brown hair, beautiful eyes, and a perfect body.This time, I promised myself I wouldn’t wait. I would make a move on her within a matter of months. The first thing I thought about
was making her a bismuth necklace, because chemistry would always be number one to me. I decided not to though, because I would rather keep my chemistry to myself. My chemistry. All mine. I ended
on doing something better, writing a poem. The poem was completely incomprehensible, using words people didn’t know existed, but I thought she liked that kind of stuff. So, I spent many
sleeplessnights, thinking of the best possible lines. Eventually, I had thought up most of it,
andtook many hours to write my masterpiece, my legacy. It was amazing. I had to print it out in secret though,
because I knew that if my dad saw it he would laugh at me andcall me a littleloser.So, Iafter I hadprinted itout when my parentsweren'tat the house, I read it over onelast time. It
was great, and I was ready to give it to her. It was the best thing I had ever done. I excitedly told my friends, butmaybesaid something too loud.

When I got to school the next day, I noticed that most people werestaringat me. As it turned out almost everyone knew about the poem and my immense love for Patty.
I couldn’t just do it when everyone knew, so I got mad, and blamed it on my friends. So I didn’t give her the poem that day, and went homeconfusedand upset. So, I got out my phone and
started texting two of my friends hate because I thought they told Patty about the poem. Eventually, I annoyed them so bad that they both had toblock me. Big mistake on my part, I lost two of my small amount of friends.

So I came to school the next day,desperatelytrying to convince myself to give Patty the poem, but then I noticed that she was looking at me funny in math class. Oh my quadratic
formula! She knew! So I just kept my head down, and went home with that poem again.

When I woke up in the morning, I felt different, more confident. I was going to give it to her today, no matter what. But when I got on the bus, my friend told me some
news that was kind of important. She already had a boyfriend. I didn’t believe it, so he showed me his Instagrampage. He was this ripped singer with thousands of fans on social media, who wasbasicallythousands of times better than me. But I was young and stupid, and still thought I was better, and decided to go through with it anyway.

I struggled through the school day, nonstop thinking about how good my life would be after Patty would be my girlfriend. Lunch came around, I slowly ate my lunch of
chicken and rice stalling so I wouldn’t have to give it to her. My friends finally convinced me to go through with it. I walked into the media center and told Patty that I needed to show her
something. She pretty much knew what was coming and was most likely thinking of ways to be nice in rejecting me. We walked outside, my hands were ice cold and my whole body was shaking
innervousness. I had a feeling I might throw up my lunch. I handed Patty the poem, there was no going back now
but there was no way she would ever say no to something so sweet. Patty read through the poem. She finished the poem after what seemed like a year. She told me that she was already in a
relationship. “I should have listened,” I told myself angrily. I went in for the hug but instead she just handed me the poem and walked away. Rejection part 2, by now I was used to
this.

Jump a few years into the future, senior year. Senior year at my school was marked by many different traditions. From senior dress up days to watermelon day and the most
important tradition, Prom. Prom was the perfect time for me to finally get a girlfriend. I had been rejected 2 times now, and I guess that the 3rdtime would be the charm. I decided to lower my standards and ask a girl who was not as good looking as my past attempts. I
knew this would be my lucky break. No more rejections, I was going to end up happy this time. This girls name was Melissa, she was smart and funny and was the perfect girl for
me.This time I was notgoing
towrite a poem, I was notgoing tomake her abismuthnecklace, I was doing something better. I wasgoing toplay her Careless Whisper on my
clarinet. I spent hours upon hours upon hours perfecting the song. I asked my band teacher for help and practiced 3 hours a day. I played it in my sleep and began to worship this song. After
a few months of preparation, the time came for me to go through with it.

I woke up that dayfeeling ready and I knowingthat it would be my lucky day. All my rejections and tough times had led up to this time. I had changed as a person, and overcome
all these struggles. It had made me work harder for my goals and never give up. I arrived to school, my clarinet in my hand. Melissa was in my 1stperiod class so I would have to play her the song at the beginning of the day. I spotted Melissa standing quietly in front of our
1stperiod class. I walked slowly towards her as I put my clarinet into my mouth and readied myself to
play the song. I could feel the beautiful wind against my face and the beautifulatmospherearound me. I walked up to Melissa and
started playing the beautiful melody. As I continued playing, every note seemed better and better. All my months of practice into Careless Whisper had paid off. I finished the song and asked
Melissa if she would be willing to go to prom with me. By now, I knew that she would for sure say yes. I was wrong, she said no. I broke down in tears, 3 times I had put all my heart into
something and 3 times I had been rejected. Melissa was a step down from my past attempt, and evenshe said
no.I would be forever alone, my life was over.

Today, I am now 40 years old. I am still alone and have never found anyone who has loved me back. I live by myself and go to work every day and go back home. I never do
anything but work sleep and eat. I live a boring life but I am now used to it. I amforeveralone but I haveacceptedit. I often have nightmares about my pastexperiencesand fiascos but it is fine, life will go on. These experiences I had back in the day
were something very unique. To others I tell these stories in a humorous manner, but secretly I am still hurt emotionally by these stories. I put my whole heart into 3 girls and 3 times I failed. I
changed myself to be better for these girls but still failed. I never gave up though, throughout my adult life I kept trying. Always remember to never give up, unless your me. Now, I accept
the fact I will be alone and focus my time on other things such as my profession as a chemist. One thing that has always loved me back from the start is
chemistry.